Submarine signaling



March 11, 1924.;

R. L. WILLIAMS SUBMARINE SIGNALING Fild April 25 1918 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 11, 1924.

R. L. WILLIAMS SUBMARiNE SIGNALING Filed April 25 1918 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 -March 11, 1924.;

R. L. WILLIAMS SUBMARINE SIGNALING Filed April 25 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 March 11, 1924; 3,486,821

R. WILLIAMS SUBMARINE S IGNALING Filed April 25 1918 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Mar. 11 1924.,

UNITED STATES PATENTTOFFICE.

ROBERT L. WILLIAMS. OF NEWTON, ILASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO SUBMARINE SIG- NAIL COMPANY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

SUBMARINE SIGNALING.

Application filed April 25, 1?].8. Serial No. 280,802.

To all whom it may comer n:

Be it known that I, ROBERT L. WILLIAMS, of Newton, in the county of Middlesexvand State of Massachusetts,, a citizen of the 5 United States, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Submarine Signaling,

of which the following is a specification.

In a submarine slgnallng receiver a dla- Fig. 7 shows in horizontal section another form of the device shown in Fig.1 and is illustrative of a way of determining the proportions of the various parts to secure a desired result, and

Fig. 8 is a view showing a device in which a microphone is not used, the diaphragm be ing supplied with ear-pieces of the stethophragm located in a ship skin receives sound- 10 waves from various directions and transmits them by means of a microphone or the like to a suitable receiving instrument or indicator. To receive sounds coming from a single direction only it is desirable that so far as practicable. the undesired sound waves,

that is, those coming from a difi'erent direction, be eliminated, leaving the microphone.

free to receive and transmit only sound waves coming from the desired direction and eliminating undesired vibrations by interference.

I have shown in the drawings and describe below several means for this pur ose all based upon the idea broadly speaking that the desired sound waves shall arrive at the microphone in phase, while. the undesired wave or waves arriving from undesired directions shall reach the microphone by various more or less opposed paths and-out of phase so that on coming to a common point of meeting they will interfere and so neutralize or more or less kill each other.

In the drawings I have shown various ways of carrying out my invention, all involving, however, the same principle. Other embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art. 1

Figure 1 is a horizontal section of a portion of a ship having my mechanism attached thereto.

Fig. 2 shows in section a portable form of my invention which is watertight and may be utilized in a water ballast tank or elsewhere, being suspended if desired so that it may be rotated about a vertical axis to secure direction.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section showing the apparatus located in the bottom of the ship.

Fig. 4 is a similar section showing a modification.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section showing a mounting of an apparatus similar in kind to that shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a vertical section of a ship in which a similar apparatus is mounted.

ill

scope type. i

In all these views A is a skin or frame of the ship. In each case also there is a microphone B located to receive the sound vibrations and transmit them by leads I) to a suitable receiver or indicator (not shown). In addition there are a plurality of diaphragms (3 or other sections of the skin of the ship especially adapted to receive the sound-waves and suitably connected to themicrophone B. I have shown two means of connecting the diaphragm with the microphone. In Figs. 1, 2, 3' and 7 the means is a liquid confined in tubes leading from the diaphragms to the vmocrophone, which is preferably suspended in an enlargement of the tube system. In Figs. 4, 5 and 6 the connections are preferably metallicmainly wires, one end of each of which is attached to a diaphragm in the ships skin, while the other is connected directly or indirectly with a microphone, all as will be below described.

In Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 7, D is'a casing, metallic or otherwise, of .any suitable'shape. This casing is attached to the interior of the ship and encloses a tube system. This system comprises an enclosure E forming a chamber in which is mounted the micropho'ne B in any suitable manner.

This chamber'E has in each case tubularconnections with openings in the ships skin, each opening being closed by a diaphragm. In Fig. 1 there are four such openings on each side of the ship and four diaphragms C, C, C and C each closing one of said openings. a

The chamber E has a tube or gassa e e leading directly to the diaphragm T ere is a passage 6 leading at right angles from the passage 6 from which proceed passages e (5 ,6 The chamber E and the various tubes or passages e, e e 6 and e are all within the casing D, which is packed with a sound-insulating material F, such as felt.

of the ship and equidistant from the bow, M0

and are adapted to receive sound waves from substantially dead ahead. a

It will be seen that sound waves coming from a distance and reaching the various diaphragms will vibrate then. and establish vibrations in the liquid in the various passages. A

The location ofthe diaphragms and the length of the tubes are such that the vibrations received by the diaphragm C from a given direction will reach the junction of the passages 0 c in phase with the vibrations reaching the same point from the diaphragm C The vibrations arriving from diaphragms C and C will likewise join these said vibrations in phase, so that all will reach the microphoneB in phase, and the result will be a clear reproduction of the vibrations to be listened for. Waves coming from a point, say off the beam, will arrive at the several diaphragms in different phase, and hence vibrations differing in phase will enter and pass into and through the tubes to the .microphone and not being in phase will interfere, so that the microphone will not transmit such signals to the indicator.

The apparatus is especially arranged in Fig. 1 to receive sounds from nearly dead ahead.

In Fig. 2 there is shown in horizontal section a portable apparatus which is intended to be supported by a strap or otherwise in the fore peak tank of the ship, the means of suspension not being shown. The casing D is watertight; the diaphragms are lettered C, C C and C as before, and each is connected by liquid-containing pas sages f with the chamber F containing th microphone B. These passages are of equal length so that when the sound waves strike all four diaphragms in phase compressional waves in phase will pass in and be received and transmitted by the microphone to the indicator. This will happen when the diaphragms are normal to the direction from which the sound waves arrive; when, however, the diaphrag'ms are not normal to such direction, the sound waves will not be in phase and hence at the various junctions of the passages f, will oppose or otherwise interfere with each other, thus neutralizing each other to a greater or less extent and reducing considerably the efi ect on the inicrophone. By turning the instrument about a. vertical axis the direction from which the incoming sound proceeds may be easily as certained.

In Fig. 3 a similar apparatus is shown in the bottom of the ship, its construction and mode of operation being in all respects as in the apparatus shown in Figs. 1 and 12. This apparatus is arranged for receiving sounds from ahead or astern but not on the beam. Tlforms of my apparatus Leeaear shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are similar in their theory of operation to the forms previously described. They differ chiefly in the substitution of a metallic path for the sound waves for the liquid path first above described, with some details of construction below described.

Thus in Fig. 4 wires 7 connect the diaphragms C, C C and C with an inboard diaphragm G, which is suitably mounted in one of the decks G As in the former case the length and arrangement of these wires are such that sounds from all the diaphragms C, C C C will reach the micro phone B in phase-provided the sound approaches the ship from ahead or astern.

In this case as in Fig. 6 the inbound diaphragm G carries a link 9 pivoted to a bell crank g mounted on a support 9 on the deck G The upper arm of the bell crank engages a rod or pin 6 connected to one element of the microphone so that the vibrations of the diaphragm G will cause corresponding movements of the microphone.

In Fig. 6 but two diaphragms C, C are shown and they are connected to a light stiff compensating lever H suitably hung below the inboard diaphragm and connected thereto by the rod or wire h. Sounds reaching the two diaphragms C, C Simultaneously and in phase move the lever H similarly. If they are out of pham they rock the lever H, thereby only partly transmitting their energy to the button, a portion of the energy being lost by interference.

The arrangement of Fig. 5 is like that'of Fig. 4 applied to the side of the ship. In this case, however, the microphones are each attached directly to a diaphragm g.

T have shown in Fig. 7 the method of determining the proper lengths of sound passages. Tn this view, X being the source of sound, the dotted linesshow the line of travel to C and C lit will be noticed that the passage of the. sound waves from X to the microphone B through the passage f is substantially equal to that through the passage 7", so that the sound waves reaching the microphone through both passages will arrive at the microphone in phase. The same will be true of sound waves originating at X and traveling to B by the diaphragms C and C Thus the sound waves traveling from X will'all arrive at B substantially in phase.

lln Fig. 8 is shown an acoustic receiver based on the same principle but without electrical connections. The diaphragms C, C in this case are connected by wires 9 each with its own diaphragm J which isounted to close one end of a casing J, the rear end of w? is also closed to form a chamber with which is connected a tube j leading to a compensator J for example, of the character-described in the applicaweasel tion of RichardD. Fay, Serial No. 238,839 filed June 8, 1918, or of any other character such that the distance of the sound travel between the diaphragms C, C and the observers ears may be adjusted so that the sound which strikes the diaphragm C will take as long to travel to the observer as the sound which strikesthe diaphragm C thus compensating for the difference in distance between the source of sound of C and C respectively. J, J are stethoscopic telephone ear-pieces which, being well known, need not be described in detail. Each is connected through the compensator and a tube j with the chamber in one of the casings J In using this instrument the observer puts the ear-pieces in his ears and adjusts the ear-pieces until the sounds from both diaphragms C, C reach his cars at the same instant. This form of my invention being adjustable is particularly adapted to cases where the sought-for sound may come from any one of a number of directions. By this means its direction may be determined.

Thus the indicating instrument, that is the instrument which conveys the 'intelligence to the observer, may be electrical or merely acoustical, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the equalization of the paths of travel from the source of sound to the observer may be arrived at in other ways than those described, the pur pose of my invention being to provide means whereby the sound may arrive at the indi-' ca tor from the source from a plurality of diaphragms or other receivers in phase, thus multiplying the effect upon the indicator. Sounds arriving at the receivers from directions other than that desired will not reach the indicator or the converging paths in phase and hence will interfere and more or less nullify each other. The length of the various paths for the sound may be determined by experiment or calculation in any given case' according to the part of the ship in which the receivers are to be located and the direction from which the sound is to be expected. These paths should be of a noncompressible material such as fluid or a solid as with a compressible material such as a gas too much energy would be taken up in the compression of the gas and the result would be comparatively feeble, if effective at all.

Various modifications may be constructed which will come within my claims for I do not mean to restrict myself to the precise forms of construction shown and described.

While my invention is primarily intended for use on board ship, it may be otherwise installed, although described particularly with reference to ship use.

What I claim as my invention is 1. In a device for determining the direction of subaqueous sound signals, detecting means spaced substantially in a horizontal plane inthe skin of a vessel, transmitting means, receiving means, said transmitting means connecting said detecting means to said receiving means, the length of said transmitting means being proportioned so that only sounds from directly ahead of the vessel will betransmitted in phase to said receiver.

2. In a device for determining the direction of subaqueoussou'nd signals, a plurality of detecting means spaced substantially in a horizontal plane in the skin of a ves-- sel,plurality of sound conducting paths of a noncompres'sible medium, a single receiver, each of said detecting means being connected to said single receiver by the said sound conducting paths, the length of said conducting paths being proportioned so that only sounds from directly ahead ofthe vessel will be transmitted in phase to said receiver.

3. In a device for determining the direction of subaqueous sound signals, a plurality of diaphragms spaced substantially in a horizontal plane in the skin of a vessel, a plurality of sound conducting tubes, said diaphragms each closing an end of a conducting tube, a receiver, a chamber, said receiver being positioned in said chamber, the other end of said conducting tubes communicating with said chamber, a noncompressible sound conducting medium 1 connecting said receiver with said diaphragms through the conducting tubes, the length of saidconducting tubes being proportioned so that only'sounds from directly ahead of the vessel will be transmitted in phase to the receiver. I

4. In a device for determining the direction of subaqueous sound signals, a plurality of diaphragms spaced substantially in a horizontal fplane in the skin of a vessel, a plurality 0 sound conducting tubes, said diaphragms each closing an end of a conductinghtube,-a microphone, a chamber, said microp one being mounted on the wall of said chamber, the other end of said conducting tubes communicating with said chamber, a noncompressible sound conductin medium sealed within said conducting tu es by said chamber and said diaphragms,

said medium connecting said microphone and starboard side of a vessel, positioned so as to be screened from one another by the vessel itself, a plurality ofdiaphragms spaced substantially ina horizontal. plane in the skin of the vessel, a plurality of sound conducting tubes, said diaphragms each closing an 'end of a conducting tube, a receiver, a chamber, said receiver being positioned in said chamber, the other end of said conducting tubes communicating with said'chamber', a noncompressible sound conducting .medium connectin said receiver with said diaphragms through the sound conducting tubes, the length of said conducting tubes bein proportioned so that only sounds from directly ahead of the vessel will be transmitted in phase to the receiver whereby the direction of the sound source may be determined by both port and starboard receivers or either receiver.

d'ln a device for determining the direc tion-of subaqueous sound signals, a plurality of tanks mounted on the port and-starboard side of a vessel positioned so as to be screened from one another by the vessel itself, said tanks being filled with a naeaeaa noncompressible fluid, a plurality of diaphragms spaced substantially in a horizontal plane in the skin of the vessel Within said tanks, a plurality of sound conductin tubes, said diaphragms each closing an en of a conducting tube, a microphone, a chamber, said microphone being mounted on the wall of said chamber, the other end of said conducting tubes communicating with said chamber, a second non-compressible sound conducting medium sealed Within said conducting tubes by said chamber and said 'diaphragms, said second sound medium connecting said microphone with said diaphra s, the length of the sound conducting tu es being proportioned so that only sounds from directly ahead of the vessel will be transmitted in phase to the microphone whereby the direction of the sound source may be determined by both port and starboard microphones or by either microphone alone.

IRQBERT L. WILLIAMS. 

